February 2023 - Page 2 of 2 - PLAYWORKEATREPEAT

Weekend Of Family Fun

Hi everyone I hope you all had a great weekend and are feeling ready for a brand new week. Do you feel the same as me that the weekends fly by just way too fast? I always long for more time to relax and enjoy my free time. But Monday just rolls around in a blink of an eye. Anyway, I’m so happy that you have stopped by today. I’m linking up with Holly and Sarah to share a few highlights from my weekend of family fun. Monthly Family Dinner It’s always so great to spend quality time with the family and this weekend was no exception! Saturday was all about good food, laughter and catching up. One of my cousins hosted our first monthly family get-together for the year at her house. She went away to Hawaii for a couple of weeks with her husband and two kids. And It was so great to see them looking all tanned, happy and relaxed after their fun holiday. I could hardly believe that we hadn’t seen each other as one big group since Christmas. Time does fly by so fast!! We started the evening by toasting with Prosecco and enjoying some cheese and crackers. Then we all sat down together for a lovely meal. And enjoyed some delicious chicken, chips, mac and cheese, corn on the cob as well as cornbread. My cousin’s husband is from America and he introduced us all to cornbread. It’s the first time that I have tried it and it was just so delicious! Thankfully they have shared the recipe with us because I can’t imagine my life without cornbread ever again! A Surprise Birthday Cake For Me! It’s not my birthday until later in the month but my littlest cousin who is nine years old surprised me with a beautiful cake and everyone sang me happy birthday. It was such a lovely gesture! She baked the cake all by herself with a little help from her mum. The cake was so delicious and moist with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. Ocular Gaming System After dinner, it was time for some more fun and my other cousin pulled out the Occular gaming system that she brought over for us to play with. The ocular gaming system is a virtual reality headset designed for gaming. I had a turn and it is such an amazing gaming system. It transports you to a different world and you interact with the game using hand gestures. It was absolutely mind-blowing and I would love to buy one. But they don’t come cheap so I don’t think that I will be getting one anytime soon. Sunday It was such a joy to walk to church on Sunday morning. I loved feeling the warm sun on my face and looking at the brilliant blue sky. As I walked along it was different to my usual walks to work when I am usually in a hurry and going at a fast pace. This time I soaked in the beauty of my surroundings and the peaceful quiet of the neighbourhood. It was a big change from the noise of the weekday traffic and I could even hear the birds chirping! I snapped a quick photo of this quirky garden that is a few houses away from the church building. The front lawn is full of garden ornaments, plants and whirly things that move with the breeze. I always wonder who lives there. The fun continued on Sunday evening as my oldest son and his lovely fiancee came over for a visit. We sat down together for another family dinner and it was wonderful to see everyone having such a great time and enjoying more lively conversation. And just like that, our fun family weekend came to an end all too soon. We’re already looking forward to our next big family catch-up as they are always the highlight of every month. I hope you all enjoyed a great weekend. Happy Monday!

Weekend Of Family Fun Read More »

Favourites From The Week

10 Comments / Friday Favourites

Favourites From The Week Hi everyone! I’m back here today sharing some favourites from the week. But firstly I can’t tell you how happy I am to welcome back the weekend! It has just been such a busy week. I’m not really surprised though because the first week back at preschool is always so full on. And I think that maybe the best way to describe it is that it’s a bit like childbirth! You forget how hard it is until you go through it again!! Haha….maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration! But friends it’s been a bit of a wild week! Anyway, it’s great to be back again on this sunny Friday to share some of my favourites from the week. Thank you so much for being here today. My first favourite for this week was meeting my cousin’s new puppy Zilla. She is absolutely the cutest and I am so excited that I get to see her again tomorrow. I have loved drinking refreshing iced coffee with hazelnut syrup. Perfect for those hot summer days. The temps have been around 30°C for most of this week and it’s just the way I like it! Priceline was having a major sale so I stocked up on a few things. I picked up the argan hair moisturising treatment for $13.80 instead of $23.00 so that was a nice saving. I also bought this Sally Hansen nail polish which looks very similar to the one that I nearly bought last weekend. And it was only a fraction of the price! My lovely friends went to San Francisco to visit their family over the Christmas holidays and they brought me back some beautiful surprises. They are so sweet to think of me and I will be tucking into some of these goodies tonight. Because it’s Friday night treat night! Look at this cute baby Yoda. They know what a big Star Wars fan I am. Steve and I went out for our usual seafood dinner on Wednesday night and this time we shared some ice cream for dessert. It was such a hot and humid night and the ice cream tasted so refreshing. We had Turkish delight, pistachio and mango. Yum, yum and yum! We have all been really enjoying some refreshing summer fruit this week. I ordered some grapes when I did my online food shop and I was surprised by how big the bunches were. We had two of these containers full of sweet grapes and everyone at home has been tucking into them. It’s a good thing that I have another grocery order coming today with more refreshing grapes. I’m not sure if I have shared this mayonnaise with you guys before. But this is everyone’s favourite mayonnaise here at home. It’s so creamy and delicious! It’s perfect for potato salad and tuna sandwiches as well as just about everything. I’m back to eating healthy salads at work. No daytime snacking anymore until the next holidays. One of my favourite things about working with kids is hearing the funniest things they come out with! I overheard a few things this week that made me chuckle. Two little girls who had only just started preschool were painting at the easel and they hadn’t met before or even acknowledged each other’s presence. When one turned to the other and said” Hey do you want to be my best friend”. The other little girl replied, “yeah ok”. Ah, life and relationships can be so uncomplicated when you’re four years old. Rest and relaxation time is not everyone’s favourite and we often have a few wiggle worms. So we keep it short and sweet for them. On Thursday I said to the kids “only two more minutes before we finish rest time”. One of my funny little friends asked “and how many seconds?” I burst out laughing! One of our new preschoolers has been having the best time. When his mum said goodbye to him one morning. He replied,” bye mum, see you tomorrow”. Ha! And there we have ten favourites from the week. I sure am glad to get week one back at work out of the way. And now it’s only ten more weeks until the end of term. But who’s counting? 😂 I hope that you all had a fantastic week and are just as excited as I am that it’s the weekend! Once I jump off the computer. I’m going to wrap up a few chores around the house. And then hang out on the couch with some snacks and watch lots of something. I haven’t decided what to watch yet. But I just hope that I can keep my eyes open. Happy Friday! Linking up with Andrea and Erika for today’s Friday Favourites

Favourites From The Week Read More »

favourite and least favourite foods-turkey bolognese

Turkey Bolognese Recipe

6 Comments / Recipes

Ever since we discovered turkey bolognese my family have finally enjoyed eating bolognese! They have never been big fans of the traditional spaghetti bolognese made with beef mince. I have never understood why because this is actually my favourite dish. And I am not exaggerating when I say that I could eat it almost every day! So one day I decided to try making it with turkey mince instead of beef mince and it’s been a real game changer! Now that my family enjoys eating bolognese. I feel good about making it often and I finally get to satisfy my love for bolognese regularly. It’s a win-win!! Turkey Bolognese Is Amazing Because Turkey mince is lower in fat than beef mince so it is healthier! It is full of flavour. This recipe contains vegetables for added flavour as well as nutrients. Best of all it’s a super easy recipe to make. What To Serve With Turkey Bolognese You can serve turkey bolognese with any pasta you prefer. I love the traditional spaghetti pasta but my family loves the spirals the best. You could also serve it with zucchini noodles instead of pasta. And if you make a delicious fresh salad and garlic bread to go with turkey bolognese. You will have an amazing dinner on the table in no time at all! Turkey Bolognese Recipe Ingredients 500 gm turkey mince 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 medium onion finely chopped 2 carrots finely chopped 3 stalks of celery finely diced 2 cloves of garlic crushed 1 cup of chicken stock 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1/4 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp dried parsley add salt and pepper to taste 400g passata 1 can of crushed tomatoes Instructions Peel and finely chop the onion, celery and carrots Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan and add garlic and vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are soft. Add the turkey mince and cook until brown. Add the passata, crushed tomatoes and stock. Add oregano, thyme, cumin and parsley. Bring to a boil, stir then lower the heat to the lowest setting and simmer for 25 minutes. Cook The Pasta While the sauce is simmering. Cook approximately 400 grams of your choice of pasta until al dente combine the sauce and pasta together in a big serving bowl. Serve with parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves to garnish. Notes Don’t worry if it looks like there is a lot of sauce because the pasta will soak it all up and the delicious flavours will infuse into the pasta. Taste as you cook and add seasonings and herbs according to your liking. If you think the sauce is a little on the dry side then add more chicken stock. You could make turkey bolognese with turkey breast mince but I find that it’s drier than regular turkey mince. Other Easy Recipes You Might Like To Try Easy Lasagna Recipe Mediterranean Couscous Pumpkin Risotto

Turkey Bolognese Recipe Read More »

February-Currently

13 Comments / Family Life

I can hardly believe that it’s the 1st of February. January just went so fast for me but that’s because I was on summer break. And I find that the days just go by in a flash when I’m on holiday from work. But I’m happy to be back today with the February edition of Currently and I am linking up with Jennifer from Overflowing With Thankfulness. Today we are looking at what we are currently loving, feeling, posting, receiving and seeing. Loving I have been loving summer!! It’s been humid and sticky. My hair has been suffering from a shocking case of frizz but I just love the hot weather so much! Even though I have absolutely loved being on summer break. Now that I am back at work I love that tired feeling after a long busy day. And when I go to bed I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. During the holidays I had trouble falling asleep even when I went to bed really late. This was totally fine because I didn’t have to go to work the next day and I had the luxury of sleeping in. But I know for sure that I don’t sleep as well during the holidays as I do now that I’m dead tired after work. Feeling I am feeling so positive about this year! Last year was the worst and I figure that if I can survive a year like that then I can probably survive almost anything. I am seeing everything through fresh eyes and grateful for a new year. And I have also been feeling very blessed. I have a wonderful family and the most amazing friends. I feel like I have come out of a very long tunnel and this year I have found the sunshine. Posting I have been posting more often here on the blog. But that’s because I have been on summer break. Now that I am back at work I’m not sure that I will be able to keep up. But that’s ok, I’ll try my best and see how I go. Receiving I guess the first thing that comes to mind is that I have been receiving a few online shopping deliveries. But they are not for me. They are for my oldest son. He lives in an apartment and so it’s just easier if his things get delivered to our house. Then he picks them up when he comes over to visit. Seeing I have been seeing lots of new little faces at preschool. Many of the last years preschoolers have moved on to kindergarten this year. And now we have new children beginning preschool. It always amazes me how at the start of the year what a huge deal it is for them to get to know us and then eventually trust us. After all, we are strangers to them and it must be so overwhelming for them to come into a new environment, say goodbye to their parents, and trust that we will look after them until their loved ones come to pick them up. Some children are fine with all of this and they walk into preschool so excited and ready to explore everything. But others take more time so I have also seen a few sad faces at preschool too. This week I have also seen quite a few familiar little faces. We have welcomed back children who were too young to start primary school. And it’s incredible how much children can grow over five weeks. Some of them have had major growth spurts and they have just shot up. And that’s a wrap for the February edition of Currently. Thank you so much for stopping by today. I’m sure that before we know it we’ll be back here again for the March edition because the days just fly by so fast! I hope you all have a great Wednesday.

February-Currently Read More »